The last cabinet slams shut. Then the floor groans, and the center of the records room splits open into a widening black chasm.
Thadeus spots a narrow breach in the wall just as the stone gives way under his feet. He and Elizabeth throw themselves through it, shoulder first, before the room drops away behind them.
They land hard in a cramped hallway. The ceiling repeats a broken-star logo at fixed intervals, each one glowing deep purple in the dark.
Thadeus Jovanović
The logo marks the route below the records room.
Elizabeth Bathory
They sealed the room behind us. This way has to lead deeper.
Ahead, the corridor narrows toward a bend, and the purple symbols keep ticking overhead like a warning trail.
✓ Quest Accepted
Reach the source of the broken-star route
“Thadeus and Elizabeth move quickly down the dark hallway, passing several barred doors. Thadeus looks inside one of the rooms, seeing an empty bedroom, possessing only a wooden cot, a flimsy wood dresser and dried wooden table. "This must be the inner quarters for the lower-ranking SoD members. We may find more dangers here."”
SUCCESS (Superb Perception, rolled -1)
Thadeus and Elizabeth move fast, boots whispering over stone as the broken-star lights pulse above them. Several barred doors slide past in the dark, each one sealed tight and silent.
Thadeus slows at one door and peers through the bars. Inside is a stripped bedroom, just a wooden cot, a flimsy dresser, and a dried table, all of it bare and unused.
Thadeus Jovanović
This must be the inner quarters for the lower-ranking SoD members. We may find more dangers here.
Elizabeth Bathory
Then keep moving light. If this place has standards, it has guards too.
Elizabeth takes the lead again, one hand brushing the wall while Thadeus follows the broken-star trail past more barred rooms. The corridor bends ahead, narrow and mean, with old stone and iron waiting in the dark.
Behind them, the hallway gives a low, tired groan. The way back is still open, but the sound says it will not stay that way for long.
“Thadeus hears a noise down the hallway, a tortured noise. Thadeus and Elizabeth slow their movements, careful not to attract any unwanted attention until they know how many enemies they are dealing with.”
SUCCESS (Superb Perception, rolled +3)
Thadeus freezes at the edge of the bend, and the rough, dragged noise ahead gives them both the answer. It is not one enemy, but at least three moving in shifts, one of them stumbling hard enough to scrape stone.
Thadeus Jovanović
Three sets of movement. One is hurt, or being hauled.
Elizabeth lowers her hand from the wall and eases back to Thadeus’s shoulder, matching his pace to hers. The broken-star lights wash over a sealed door with a star-shaped lock plate, and the corridor ahead tightens around the sound.
Elizabeth Bathory
Keep it quiet. We know the count now.
Thadeus leans forward just enough to catch a second detail, the scrape repeats from beyond the next turn, followed by a clipped whisper and a muffled groan. Something is being dragged toward the sealed rooms, and the floor seam by the wall has already shifted a finger's width.
Then the corridor answers them. A hidden panel down the hall clicks open a crack, spilling a strip of cold light across the stone, and the noise ahead stops all at once, as if whoever is there has heard Thadeus hear them.
“Thadeus can't believe what he's seeing. Looking closely at three figures, he recognizes two of them - Victor Hale and Vinnie from Knight's End. They are both reaminated corpses, their skins that pale Grey color, and their eyes that colorless white. They are being pushed down the hallway by a third figure, a towering man in royal blue robe with the SoD symbol on the back of it, the symbol itself a bright white. He seems to moving them further down the hall. Thadeus tells Elizabeth, "Let's try to sneak behind that member in blue and see what he does with the two zombies." Elizabeth agrees, continuing to watch for anyone behind them as they move.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled +0)
Thadeus and Elizabeth glide into the wall shadow, and the blue-robed man comes into view with a hard, purposeful shove. Victor Hale and Vinnie lurch ahead of him in broken, dead steps, their pale feet skidding stone.
Thadeus Jovanović
Victor Hale. Vinnie. He is pushing them along.
The robe fills the corridor as the man keeps both reanimated bodies moving, one hand on each shoulder, steering them toward the next sealed door. The bright white broken-star on his back flashes every time he turns.
Thadeus Jovanović
Let's try to sneak behind that member in blue and see what he does with the two zombies.
Elizabeth Bathory
Agreed. I will watch our back.
Thadeus slips out from the bend, low and quiet, while Elizabeth lingers a step behind to catch any movement from the rear. The corridor narrows around the trio ahead, giving him just enough cover to shadow them.
Up close, the dead men do not fight the push, they limp in the direction he gives them, blank eyes fixed ahead. The man in blue stops at a star-shaped lock plate, and the sealed room beyond seems to be waiting for the pair like a destination.
Behind Thadeus and Elizabeth, the hidden panel clicks again, and the cold strip of light widens across the stone. The passage behind them starts to grind shut.
“Thadeus watches carefully as the man in blue robes holds has over the broken star symbol at the end of the hall. After a few moments”
Thadeus holds his line in the shadow while the blue robe tests the lock plate, and the corridor behind them grinds shut with a hard final scrape. Elizabeth stays near him, watching the narrowing seam as the way back seals itself off.
“As the robed man holds his hand out, the broken star symbol glows bright gold for a few seconds, and the door splits open from the middle, revealing an entrance. The robed man forces the zombies of Victor Hale and Vinnie through and they disappear on the other side. " Now is our chance, Elizabeth," Thadeus whispers. They dash towards the open door, seeing it begin to close in on itself. Thadeus and Elizabeth throw themselves through the door, which closes behind them. As they reorient themselves and stand up, they see they are in a much larger room made of ancient stone, with a large variety of devices strewn about on stone tables. "Holy cow," Thadeus says in shock, continuing, "I think we may be in some sort of alchemy lab."”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled -1)
Thadeus and Elizabeth hit the threshold at a run, shoulder first, as the broken-star door snaps wider for a breath and the blue-robed man shoves Victor Hale and Vinnie through before the panel starts to bite shut again.
Thadeus Jovanović
That is it. Go.
They dive after the reanimated pair, boots skidding over stone, and the opening clamps down behind them with a heavy, final thud that cuts off the corridor.
Thadeus rises into a larger chamber of ancient stone, tables crowded with jars, tools, and odd devices under dull amber light, while Elizabeth straightens beside him, scanning the room with quick, sharp eyes.
Elizabeth Bathory
Thadeus, look at this.
Thadeus Jovanović
Holy cow. I think we may be in some sort of alchemy lab.
Ahead, the blue robe disappears deeper into the room, and the sound of footsteps behind the wall stops as if the hall outside has been sealed away for good.